Odd 67 327-300

[John M.]

At Carlisle there was a late 67 327-300 for sale, green, saddle, or green, black, survivor (?) The engine was a 66 327-300 stamped HE over what was HA (I think). The guy representing the car said that Chevrolet "ran out of the 67 engines and used some 66 passenger engines that were left over." He said that a certain (very) well known Corvette expert had verified that this happened to a number of these cars in late 67. This was the first that I had ever heard of such a thing. Two other much more knowledgeable guys who were also there were skeptical also. Did this actually happen?

[Duke W.]

Re: Odd 67 327-300

...sounds like a fish story. It's possible that very early '67s may have had "left over" '66 engines. It was common practice to use surplus prior model year inventory early the next model year if they were essentially the same, but I don't know if that was the case for '66 327/300s.

But I seriously doubt that there were left over '66 327/300s in late '67. Pass. car or Corvette, they would have been used in production long before or transfered to service parts.

GM did not leave high value production inventory sitting around in limbo for months if there was any way to avoid it.

Duke

[Wayne K.]

Re: Odd 67 327-300

John,

My car was born on the last production date as far as I can tell ( VIN 194677S122827 ). The block casting numbers and dates are correct for the L-79 engine used in 67. The heads however have casting numbers and dates as those used on early 68 models. Nolan Adams wrote to me and said he had no reason to think that my motor wasn't the original from the info I provided him. I wouldn't know about going backwards to 66 engines as I would have thought if anything production would go the other direction as with the heads on my car. Then again, who is to say.

Wayne

[Timothy B.]

Re: Odd 67 327-300

John,

I saw that car and it looked very original to me. I thought I read HE on the block but it was very hard to see and my eyes??? The asking price is 54,900 and given the surviver condition of the car it may have sold for that. My 67 is a 15-- car so I will have to take a close look at my stamp pad to see if there is anything that looks as you describe.

[Gerard F.]

Re: Odd 67 327-300

John,

Was the engine dated 0626? I read a story by Al Grenning about 67 base engines with that date which were actually passenger car engines restamped for corvette engines.

I have a 06/26/67 base engine on my June 29, 67 which checks out to be a Corvette engine. However I have a lot of little anomolies in bolt head markings, no french locks with different bolts, and other little things on my engine.

Something happened at the plant on 06/26/67.

Maybe Al will chime in.

Jerry Fuccillo
#42179

[Gerard F.]

Re: Odd 67 327-300

Wayne,

Does your engine have french locks on the exhaust manifold bolts. My 67 base engine (22049) came with no french locks, and shoulder headed exhaust manifold bolts. My exhaust manifolds have never been off the car.

Jerry Fuccillo

[Joe L.]

Re: Odd 67 327-300

John-----

I seriously doubt that any "left over" 1966 engines were still around in late 1967. That just doesn't make sense to me. However, the casting date should go a long way toward answering this question.

Could a late 1967 "HA" coded passenger car engine have ended up in a Corvette? As a complete assembly, it wouldn't have. That's because 1967 passenger car 275 hp engines (i.e. "HA" coded) used a Rochester Q-Jet carb. So, the intake manifolds for an "HA" passenger engine would have been different than an "HE"-coded Corvette engine.

However, it is possible that a block that was originally built up as an "HA"-coded passenger car engine could have been "recycled" after failure and used later to build up a Corvette "HE" engine. In most cases, though, this would result in a complete "grind-out" of the engine manufacturing code since the date of assembly of the Corvette engine would also be different than the date of the original assembly of the block into a passenger car engine.

It's also possible that the person stamping the pads at Flint incorrectly stamped a Corvette engine with an "HA" suffix code, realized the mistake, and simply re-stamped the suffix code.

[Robert T.]

Re: Odd 67 327-300

My convertible #22866 V0706HT is all '67. I go with the re-cycled block theory at Flint.

[Lowell Maitland]

Re: Odd 67 327-300

The tank sheet on my early 67 (Nov.'66) shows a 425 hp engine, which had to have been a left over '66.

[John M.]

Re: Odd 67 327-300

I wish I had paid more attention but the casting number was definitely a 66 number. The guy representing the car said Al Grenning had personally checked and blessed it. He said the original owner drag raced it (?? 300hp drag car) which said to me, he blew the engine and replaced it with a 66 short or long block that he got somehow. Who knows? I would have stayed away from it. It needed a fair amount of help.

[Wayne K.]

Jerry, my engine was rebuilt by...

a previous owner and no french locks installed.

[Al G.]

[John M.]

Re: Odd 67 327-300

Thanks Al,
All very interesting. As a side note my 67 327 300 has a 66 dated intake mainfold, as do many others. This oddity was documented by John Hinkley a few years ago.
I don't know if the guy we were talking to bought the car or not but we told him to be sure to have it judged before he did anything too it. (He was asking about paint.)

[David Dawdy]

Re: Odd 67 327-300

I have 67 engine and trans #7122278 in my garage, 0626HE stamped over HA, intake dated F136, casting number 3872783, block casting 3892657 dated G286. I have owned it for nearly 25 years, George Barlos blessed it many years ago as a factory stamp. All of this stuff is the same as my 66 sn 25855 original 300HP car except for dates.

[Gerard F.]

Re: Odd 67 327-300

David,

My 67 0626HE engine (VIN 22049) has the same block casting (3892657) as yours but with a casting date of F227 (June 22,1967). My intake manifold is like yours(3872783) only dated G26 (July 02, 1966). The use of 66 intake manifolds on 67 engines is well documented.

There is no evidence of a grindout or stampover of HA on my stamp pad. Have owned mine since Dec. 1968.

Looks like they ran out of HE engines between yours and mine on 06/26/67.

Anyone between 22049 and 22278 with a 0626HE engine? We could probably get this down to the hour of the day. Interesting!

Jerry Fuccillo
#42179